May 18
1800s *1892 - In National League action, Sadie McMahon lose a no-hitter, and the game, when Denny Lyons of the New York Giants singled in the only run in the Baltimore Orioles 1–0 loss. *1897 - Bill Joyce hit four triples to lead the New York Giants to an 11–5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Exposition Park. This was the last time this feat was accomplished in major league history. Previously, George Streif of the American Association Philadelphia Athletics hit four triples in a game on June 25, 1885. 1900s *1907 - Hooks Wiltse pitched the New York Giants to a 6–2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. For New York, it was their 17 straight victory to run their season record to 24-3. Despite the run, the Giants stood in first place by just one game over the Chicago Cubs. 1910s *1912 - The Detroit Tigers used a team of replacement players against the Philadelphia Athletics. With 19 players on strike in protest of the recent suspension of Ty Cobb, manager Hugh Jennings recruited college players and a number of local semipro players to avoid a forfeit and fine. Detroit lose to the Athletics, 24–2, as pitcher Joe Travers gave up all 24 runs on 26 hits. 1920s *1929 - At Baker Bowl, the Brooklyn Robins outslugged the Philadelphia Phillies for a 20–16 victory in the first game of a doubleheader. Babe Herman and Johnny Frederick each had five hits for Brooklyn. The Phillies won the second game 8–6. Frederick scored eight runs in the doubleheader to set a major league record for most runs scored in two games. The teams combined for a record 50 runs in a doubleheader. 1930s *1930 - George Pipgras tossed his third shutout of the season as the New York Yankees again supported his pitching by bombing the host Boston Red Sox, 11–0. Babe Ruth hit an Ed Morris pitch over the right field bleachers, for one of the longest home runs ever at Fenway Park. *1931 - Babe Herman of the Brooklyn Robins hit for the cycle for the first of three times in his career, which will become a major league record. Brooklyn beat the Cincinnati Reds, 14–4. *1933 - The first MLB All-Star Game is announced for July 6 at Comiskey Park. It will be played as part of the Chicago World's Fair celebration and is sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Fans will pick the players. *1935 - Bucky Walters of the Philadelphia Phillies shut out the Chicago Cubs for ten innings and batted a RBI-single to win the game, 1–0. *1938 - Wes Ferrell of the Washington Senators pitched and batted to defeat Detroit, 5–1, at Tiger Stadium. Ferrell belted a mammoth home run, while his batterymate, brother Rick Ferrell, went hitless. *1936 - Brooks Robinson is born in Little Rock, Arkansas. The perennial Gold Glove third baseman will make his debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 1955. In 1964, Robinson will win the American League MVP Award. Six years later, his defensive brilliance will lead the Orioles to a World Series victory. 1940s *1945 - Luis Olmo of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit a triple and home run, each with the bases loaded, in the Dodgers 15–12 victory over the Chicago Cubs. No major league player has done that since. Olmo added a double for good measure. *1946 - Reggie Jackson is born in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. Jackson will make his debut in 1967 with the Kansas City Athletics. He will finish his career with 563 home runs, sixth on the all-time list. 1950s *1950 - At the Polo Grounds, Rube Walker hit a grand slam in the sixth inning for the Chicago Cubs. In the bottom of the inning, Monte Irvin also hit a grand slam for the New York Giants. It was the first time in major league history that each team hit a grand slam in the same inning. The game was called on account of rain after six innings, and the Giants won, 10–4. *1951 - Boston Braves catcher Walker Cooper hit 5-for-5 in a 12–3 route of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Max Surkont won his fifht game, scattering 10 hits and giving up late inning home runs to Ralph Kiner and Wally Westlake. *1955 - At Fenway Park, the Cleveland Indians scored 11 runs in the fifth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox, 19–0, and give Herb Score an easy win over Willard Nixon. The big blow in the inning was a grand slam by Vic Wertz. It is the worst shutout pasting ever by Boston and the most runs ever in a shutout for the Indians. *1956 - Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit home runs from both sides of the plate for the third time in his career, setting a major league record. Mantle included a perfect 4-for-4 day, helping New York to an 8–7 victory over the Chicago White Sox. *1957 - Dick Williams of the Baltimore Orioles hit a ninth-inning, game-tying solo home run off Paul LaPalme of the Chicago White Sox seconds before 10:20 p.m., the curfew set so Chicago could catch a train out of Baltimore. If Williams had done anything else, the White Sox would have won. The game was later replayed from the beginning and Baltimore won. *1958 - Cleveland Indians outfielder Carroll Hardy pinch-hit for Roger Maris and responded with his first major league career home run, a three-run shot off Billy Pierce, to give Clevelnd a 7–4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. With the Boston Red Sox, Hardy will pinch-hit for Ted Williams on September 20, 1960, and also will pinch-hit for rookie Carl Yastrzemski on May 31, 1961, making him the only player to go in for both future Hall of Famers. 1960s *1961: **Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ryne Duren posted four strikeouts in the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox. He stroke out Minnie Miñoso, Roy Sievers, J.C. Martin, and Sammy Esposito to tie a major league record, in the 6–4 loss to the White Sox. *1962 - Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew hit grand slams in the first inning to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 14–3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. *1968: **Frank Howard of the new Washington Senators tied an American League record by hitting a home run in his sixth consecutive game. With a pair of home runs against Detroit Tigers ace Mickey Lolich, Howard now has 10 homers in his last six games, also an AL record. **Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates played his 392nd straight game, setting a record for National League second basemen, in an 8–3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. *1969 - Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins stole second base, third, and home plate during the third inning of an 8–2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Carew pulled off the trifecta against the battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan. Carew became the first player in 28 years to steal three bases in sequence in the same inning. César Tovar also stole two bases in the game. 1970s *1979 - Dale Murphy hit three home runs with five RBI in three at bats, to pace the Atlanta Braves to a 6–4 victory over the San Francisco Giants. 1980s *1981 - Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela finally lose a game, 4–0, to the Philadelphia Phillies. He is now 8-1 and his earned run average increased to 0.90. *1982: **Larry Herndon of the Detroit Tigers hit three home runs in an 11–9 win over Oakland, and in the process became the 14th player in major league history to hit home runs in four consecutive plate appearances. On May 16, he homered in his final at bat to give the Tigers a 7–6 victory over Minnesota. **The [[Chicago White Sox beat the visiting Texas Rangers, 10–2, behind LaMarr Hoyt's 13th consecutive win stretching back to 1981. Hoyt's record at Comiskey Park is now 15–0. *1983 - At Memorial Stadium, Rich Dotson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a one-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles, but lose 1–0. Baltimore's lone hit was Dan Ford's eighth-inning home run. Storm Davis (7 1/3 innings) and Tippy Martinez (1 1/3 innings) combined in the four-hit shutout, with Martinez taking the win. *1988 - In the Oakland Athletics 39th game of the season, pitcher Dave Stewart broke a major league record committing his 12th balk of the season in a 4–1 loss to the Red Sox. Stewart will extend the record with 16 balks during the year. 1990s *1990: **Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg's errorless game streak came to an end after 123 games played and 584 chances. Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds had held the previous record of 91 games. **The Baltimore Orioles tied an American League record with eight consecutive singles in a seven-run first inning against Bobby Witt to beat the Texas Rangers, 13–1. The eight straight singles equaled a record set by the Washington Senators against the Cleveland Indians in 1951 and matched by the Oakland Athletics against the Chicago White Sox in 1981. *1992 - Bruce Hurst of the San Diego Padres pitched a one-hit, 3–0 shutout against the New York Mets and Dwight Gooden. The only hit was a single by the recently acquired Chico Walker. *1994 - Hiromi Makihara of the Yomiuri Giants pitched a perfect game, in the 6–0 win over the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. It is the 15th perfect game in Japanese baseball history. *1998: **At Veterans Stadium, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit three two-run home runs in a 10–8 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the second time this season and fourth time in his career McGwire hit three home runs in a game. He also became the 10th player in major league history to have two three-home run games in a season. **Due to drastic payroll cuts reducing the World Champions effectiveness, two class-action lawsuits were filed against the Florida Marlins – one for breach of contract and the other accusing the team of false advertising. **With a 6-3 victory over Baltimore, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became only the second expansion team in major league history to sweep an away four-game series. The 1993 Colorado Rockies, who did it against the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the other team to accomplish this feat. **Mike Blowers of the Oakland Athletics hit for the cycle and had four RBI in the Athletics 14–0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Blowers became only the second Oakland A’s player to accomplish the feat. *1999: **Edgar Martínez hit three home runs, tying a major league record with five homers in two games, to give the Seattle Mariners a 10–1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Martínez homered twice in the opener of the series. **Luis González of the Arizona Diamondbacks extended his hitting streak to 30 games with a two-run, first-inning home run in a 7–3 victory over the San Francisco Giants. González, whose streak matches the longest this decade, became the 37th player in major league history to reach the 30 mark. **The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees, 6–3, in the return of Yankees manager Joe Torre after being treated for prostate cancer. **Mark Grace hit a three-run home run in the 11th inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 4–1 victory over the Florida Marlins. Alex González had all three of Florida's hits. 2000s *2000: **Mark McGwire hit three home runs and had a career-high seven RBI, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Philadelphia Phillies, 7–2, at Veterans Stadium. Curt Schilling (two) and Wayne Gomes (one) were his victims. The home runs moved McGwyre past Mickey Mantle into eight place on the all-time career list with 539. **The San Diego Padres defeated the Florida Marlins, 6–2. Florida stole 10 bases in 10 attempts in the game, falling one shy of the modern National League record. Luis Castillo and Cliff Floyd stole three apiece, while Mark Kotsay and Preston Wilson each stole a pair. **The Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 8–7. Frank Catalanotto had three hits for the Rangers, and extended his consecutive hit streak to a team-record 10 before making an out. **The Twins defeat the A's, 10-5, as Denny Hocking had five hits, including two doubles with a home run and three RBI, helping the Twins in the 10–5 victory over Oakland. *2001 - The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4–0, as Randy Johnson (five innings), Byung-Hyun Kim (three innings), and Bret Prinz (one inning) combined on a one-hitter. *2002 - After sitting through a two-hour rain delay, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4–1, behind the pitching of Pedro Martínez. Martínez stroke out the side in the first inning on nine pitches, the 17th time the feat has been performed since 1970. Martínez is now 10–0 with a 0.93 ERA against the Mariners. *2003 - The Texas Rangers swept three games at Yankee Stadium for the first time in the franchise's 43-year existence. *2004 - At the age of 40, Randy Johnson became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves, 2–0. It was the 17th perfect game in major league history and the first since David Cone of the Yankees did it against Montreal on July 18, 1999. Johnson also joined Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and created the longest time span between no-no’s having first accomplishing the feat against the Detroit Tigers in June 1990. Births *1882 - Babe Adams, pitcher (d. 1968) *1885 - Cy Barger, pitcher (d. 1964) *1905 - Art Jorgens, catcher (d. 1980) *1922 - Gil Coan, outfielder *1923 - Don Lund, outfielder *1929 - Jack Sanford, All-Star pitcher (d. 2000) *1933 - Carroll Hardy, outfielder *1937 - Brooks Robinson, Hall of Fame infielder *1946 - Reggie Jackson, Hall of Fame outfielder *1951 - Eric Gregg, umpire (d. 2006) *1951 - Jim Sundberg, All-Star catcher *1965 - Erik Hanson, All-Star pitcher *1967 - Eric Young, All-Star infielder *1968 - Clemente Alvarez, catcher *1971 - Rich Garcés, pitcher *1978 - Marcus Giles, All-Star infielder *1980 - Luis Terrero, outfielder Deaths *1934 - Jumbo McGinnis, pitcher (b. 1854) *1959 - Gene Packard, pitcher (b. 1887) *1959 - John Hummel, infielder (b. 1883) *1972 - Babe Barna, outfielder (b. 1915) *1979 - Ray Blades, player and manager (b. 1896) *1995 - Jack Kramer, All-Star pitcher (b. 1918)